Zbigniew Ziobro

As Poland’s justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro is in charge of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party’s most important political effort: the overhaul of what the party describes as a corrupt and ineffective judicial system. That puts him on the sharp edge of Warsaw’s fight with the EU, which sees his effort as a thinly disguised attempt to place the judiciary under political control.

It also makes him the second-most powerful politician in Poland, ahead of the president and prime minister, behind only the country’s de facto ruler, former Prime Minister and current PiS party leader Jarosław Kaczyński.

Behind Ziobro’s cherubic face lies a sharp-elbowed political warrior, whose main concern is his standing with Kaczyński, not criticism from Brussels. And on that front he’s been undisputedly successful, cementing his position as one of the party chief’s key lieutenants in July, after a bruising fight with President Andrzej Duda.

In an unexpected show of independence following massive anti-government street protests, Duda vetoed two Ziobro-backed bills revamping the Supreme Court and the body that names new judges. Since then, however, the president has been forced to backtrack under withering fire. In an October interview with Polish public television, Ziobro reminded Duda that he stands little chance of reelection in 2020 without the party’s backing, adding condescendingly that the president “has many positive characteristics and great opportunities before him.”

Zbigniew Ziobro, during a night debate on a Supreme Court bill in Warsaw | Bartomiej Zborowski/EPA

Ziobro, 47, is also one of the few politicians in the country who has crossed Kaczyński and managed to survive politically. During PiS’ previous brief stint in power from 2005-2007, Ziobro was nicknamed the dauphin — a reference to the French royal heir. But impatient for power, he staged a failed challenge to Kaczyński in 2011 and, in 2012, launched his own Catholic and nationalist party, United Poland. After several electoral humiliations, Kaczyński brought Ziobro back into the fold ahead of the 2015 election, ensuring that the right-wing vote wasn’t splintered among a host of smaller parties.

Ziobro and his supporters are waiting to be officially readmitted to PiS — a privilege that Kaczyński hasn’t yet granted. Should that happen, the signal will be clear: Ziobro is back as Poland’s right-wing crown prince.